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Riot Clean-up Man's Charity Auction

The man behind @riotcleanupmanc with auction of limited edition prints

Published on August 18th 2011.

JEREMY MYERS, creator of the widely followed @riotcleanupmanc Twitter account, is continuing his inspirational work by organising an auction of limited edition prints to celebrate the incredible community effort that saw thousands of Manchester people work together to clear the city after last week’s riots.

Emmeline’s picture captures the community spirit that was there in the City after the riots

Proceeds will go to the Manchester based Reclaim Group and the National Leap Confronting Conflict organisation. Both charities work to improve the lives and increase the potential of young people.

A total of 50 limited A2 prints will be auctioned on eBay from Monday 22 August and the people and businesses of Manchester are being encouraged to dig deep to raise as much money as possible for these valuable causes – and of course, be in with a chance of owning one of the limited edition prints.

North West illustrator, Emmeline Pidgen, designed the print after being inspired by the clean up effort that returned Manchester to normality after looters ran riot through the city centre.

Emmeline posted her design on Twitter where it received 19,000 views in just two days – prompting her to contact Jeremy to suggest the auction.

Jeremy said: “Both Emmeline and I have been absolutely blown away by Manchester people during the past week. They have shown resilience and a determination that only a great city like this can rouse, and we are intensely proud to have been part of the clean up effort.”

He added that Emmeline has created this inspiring piece of work that captures the positive attitude of the hundreds of people who came to tidy up their city and now hopes that he can use this to raise money for RECLAIM and LEAP to improve the lives of young people.”

Support has been doled out in the bucket load, not least by local printer John Powell-Jones (aka SAVWO), who has contributed his printing expertise and also produced a further 25 prints that will be donated to individuals, organisations and businesses that lent their time, effort and resources to restoring Manchester.

Ben Hiard from Pop Bubble Rock! has also been kind enough to contribute towards print materials.

Councillor Pat Karney, Manchester City Council’s spokesman for the City Centre, said: “Jez has proved himself to be a true Manchester hero this week, stirring help from people across the city. I also have to say how impressed I was with the various businesses and groups that provided hot drinks and food to the volunteers.”

She added that Emmeline’s picture captures the community spirit that was there in the City after the riots, and hopes this spirit continues and grows with the I Love MCR campaign.

Myres Riot Clean Up Manchester Twitter and Facebook accounts have a combined total of over 15,000 followers. His involvement in the campaign saw over 1000 people take to the streets at 12 hours notice to help clean up their city.

Great to see some civic pride after the riots. But if only some of the 'I love Manchester' campaign money could have gone towards stabilising the grade 2 listed Ancoats Dispensary.

Then rather than having a few scrapped council banners ,faded t shirts and posters in a few months, the city could have a permanent monument to the past struggles to make Manchester a better place for all. Standing pride of place in the New Islington Millennium Community.